Court Services Division Standard Operating Procedure

010. DEFINITIONS

011. Bailiff

The court officer tasked with direct protection of the presiding judge and swearing in witnesses during a court session.

012. Commanding Officer

The officer designated as the leader of any one court session. Unless otherwise stated, the commanding officer is the highest ranking, seniormost court officer present.

013. Court Officer

A LEO employed by the Los Santos County Sheriff's Department acting under the jurisdiction of a particular Court building.

110. GENERAL PROVISIONS

• All LEOs wishing to RP as CSD are required to fully read and understand this SOP before RPing as CSD.

• All LEOs intending to RP as CSD must be a fully trained, sworn Law Enforcement Officer, ie. the rank of Deputy Sheriff [Police Officer II] or higher.

  • Field Training Officers shall prioritise conducting training and ridealongs before Court Security duties, as no Deputy Sheriff Trainees [Police Officer I] are allowed to act as Court Security Deputies.

• Exactly one court officer must act as bailiff during any court session at the request of the presiding judge. The bailiff will be chosen by either the presiding judge or the commanding officer.

• Court officers may wear Class A, B, or C uniform. Court officers are not permitted to wear headwear, sunglasses, masks, gloves (except when conducting pat downs), or external vests inside of the Courtroom. Court officers with arm tattoos must wear long sleeves.

• Prisoner Transport Deputies shall wear the Utility Uniform, as prescribed in LSSD Agency Standards. Deputies assigned to Prisoner Transport shall limit their presence in the Courtroom to the minimal time necessary.

• Court officers are not permitted to carry shotguns or rifles. In emergency situations where long guns would be needed, they may be retreived from a separate security room within the Court building. In addition, the CO shall consider requesting SEB.

• Court officers shall monitor the Police BASE frequency - 100 MHz. In case of an incident isolated to the court building, they shall utilize the L-TAC 1 frequency - 131 MHz whenever possible.

• As stated in 103.6 AGENCIES, Deputies shall utilize common sense when deciding the number of Deputies assigned to CSD. This number can be adjusted by a Supervisor as per their discretion.

210. PRE-SESSION PROCEDURES

• A court officer must ensure all doors in the back room of the courtroom are locked.

• At least one, preferably two court officers must be present outside of the courthouse, denying entry until the go-ahead is given by the presiding judge or Command Officer. Once the go-ahead is given, court officers are to pat down all individuals wishing to enter for weapons.

• All visitors and civilian staff are to pass through a metal detector.

• Individuals found to be carrying weapons of any sort will be asked to stow their weapons. If they refuse to comply, they are to be searched, and their weapons will be seized. Officers must make an attempt to return any seized legal weapons to their owners. Individuals not found to be carrying weapons are not to be searched. On duty Law Enforcement Officers and other individuals specified in a special order/advisory are exempt.

• Court officers reserve the right to request ID from anybody wishing to enter. Individuals identified to carry a warrant(s) are to be arrested. Court officers are not to pursue fleeing suspects.

310. MID-SESSION PROCEDURES

• Court officers should position themselves at strategic points around the courtroom to allow for the most coverage possible. At least one court officer should remain by the doors to the courtroom at all times.

• Any individuals who enter the courtroom late must be patted down. Individuals who leave the courtroom for any reason must be patted down upon reentry.

• Court officers should discreetly remove any disruptive individuals from the courtroom.

• Court officers should be whispering at all times.

410. POST-SESSION PROCEDURES

• Court officers should remove all spectators from the courtroom following a court session. Individuals are permitted to remain in the lobby and outside the building to conversate.

• Court officers should not dismiss themselves until cleared by the presiding judge or Commanding Officer. A post-session briefing may be held at the discretion of the Commanding Officer.

510. BAILIFF PROCEDURES

• The bailiff must remain at the witness stand at all times while the court is in session, unless the life of the presiding judge is in danger. During recess, the bailiff may follow the presiding judge into their chambers.

511. STARTING A TRIAL

• At the beginning of the trial, the bailiff must recite the following verbatim:

“All rise. [NAME OF THE COURT] is now in session. [NAME OF THE CASE], the Honorable [JUDGE NAME] presiding.” The bailiff must be shouting while reciting.

• Examples: 

  • [NAME OF THE COURT] - Los Santos County Superior Court, Davis City Court, etc.

  • [NAME OF THE CASE] - The People of the State of San Andreas versus John Doe, Smith versus Johnson, etc.

  • [JUDGE NAME] - Mark Howard, Andrea Bennett, etc.

512. SWEARING IN A WITNESS

• To swear a witness in, the bailiff must recite the following verbatim:
  “Please state your full name for the record.” “Mr. / Ms. [LAST NAME], please raise your hand. Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?”

  • Optionally, if the witness is religious (shall be found out before the trial), you may optionally include the phrase "So help you God?" at the end of the oath, which would then go as: 

“Please state your full name for the record.” “Mr. / Ms. [LAST NAME], please raise your hand. Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?”

• The bailiff must receive a verbal confirmation before the trial may proceed. Witnesses who fail to accept the oath may not testify and will be removed from the witness stand. Witnesses must accept the oath once every trial, and need not be sworn in multiple times in one trial. The bailiff must be shouting while swearing in witnesses.

610. DEPLOYMENT OF UNITED STATES MARSHALS SERVICE

611. GENERAL PROVISIONS

The United States Marshals Service (USMS) is tasked with providing security, custody services and bailiff during Federal Court hearing in lieu of a local agency. As such, officers who have fulfilled the criteria to serve as Court Services Deputy can choose to RP as the USMS during (and ONLY during) Federal Court hearing. Their duties would be exactly the same as CSD Deputies and their jurisdiction would only be within the court building. Any deployments outside of the building, or anything not explicitly mentioned shall fall under the purview of specialised divisions, namely DB and ERG.

(In plain English: If you can RP as LSSD Court Services Division during regular trials, during Federal trials, your rights and responsibilities will be exactly the same, only you will be doing it in an USMS uniform and you cannot RP as USMS outside of the courthouse.)

612. SPECIALISED DEPLOYMENTS OF USMS

Any tasks that are not directly relevant to Court Security and Bailiff duties and tied to the Court building, such as VIP protection, prisoner transport, investigation, responding outside of the Court building, etc., shall ONLY be done by trained members of specialised divisions with mandate over that particular task, namely Counter-Terrorism and Special Operations Bureau and Detective Bureau.

613. DRESS CODE

Members of the USMS conducting Court Security and Bailiff duties shall dress professionally, ie., wear a suit and display an USMS badge. In such cases, Marshals are not permitted to wear headwear, sunglasses, masks, gloves (except when conducting pat downs), or external vests inside of the Courtroom.

Members of the USMS conducting other specialised duties, such as prisoner transport, emergency response, etc. shall use their own discretion when selecting their uniform, but unless prohibited by tactical conditions, they shall be identifiable as United States Marshals Service, such as by wearing marked windbreakers, marked baseball caps, marked polo shirts, or openly carrying an USMS badge.